Warren Kinthompson
by George J. Dance "Warren Kinthompson" is a literary hoax perpetrated through the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. Background The first mention of Warren "Word Doctor" Kinthompson (1935-2007) appears on a blog, "Star Cougher and the Inflatable Marxist", which was begun on WordPress in April 2011, allegedly written by his son, Andrew "Squid Doctor" Kinthompson, a marine biologist.About, Star Cougher and the Inflatable Marxist. WordPress, Web, Dec. 6, 2012. The name of the blog, Star Cougher, was reportedly from a book by Kinthompson, the "last edition" of which appeared in 1973....& parliamentary trenchcoat removal, Star Cougher and the Inflatable Marxist, April 6, 2011. WordPress, Web, Dec. 6, 2012. Also according to the blog, Kinthompson's last known interview was conducted by C.D. Wright for the alumni weekly of Brown University, Trails of Brown. However, the original copy of the weekly containing that interview is missing and presumed stolen from the university library.. In Wikipedia Wikipedia does not have an article on Kinthompson, but information on him has been added to other articles throughout the wiki (all of it added from April 2011 through April 2012). According to Wikipedia: *Kinthompson was a "travelling poet" who was in New Brunswick in 1954, when he and Fred Cogswell of the University of New Brunswick founded Fiddlehead Poetry Books."Goose Lane Editions," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. (Added April 13, 2012)Revision as of 16:12, 13 April 2012," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. *Kinthompson also co-founded Fiddlehead Poetry Books, with Cogswell, in 1958."Fred Cogswell," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. (Added April 13, 2011)Revision as of 21:00, 13 April 2011," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. *Kinthompson was writer in residence at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) for some time in the 1960s. He was writer in residence by 1966, when he formed a "close friendship" with English/Canadian poet John Thompson, then teaching at Mount Allison University.John Thompson (poet)," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. (Added May 12, 2011)Revision as of 18:21, 12 May 2011," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. *Kinthompson served as writer in residence at UNB until 1968, when he was succeeded by his "close friend," Alden Nowlan.Alden Nowlan," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. (Added May 12, 2011)"Revision as of 18:20, 12 May 2011," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. *In the late 1970's, Kinthompson handled the distribution rights of New England poet Frank Stanford's Lost Roads Publishing in Canada, where he promoted the first 2 collections by C.D. Wright, Room Rented by a Single Woman (1977) and Terrorism (1979). However, he "went AWOL" in 1978."Carolyn D. Wright," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. (Added April 11, 2011)"Revision as of 07:15, 11 April 2011," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. *Kinthompson was also a "close friend" of Prince Edward Island poet Milton Acorn, and collaborated on Acorn's 1972 book, More Poems for People. He was quoted by the Globe and Mail, at the time of Acorn's death in 1986, as saying that Acorn had "lost his will to live."Milton Acorn," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. - a quotation originally attributed to James Deahl."Revision as of 00:49, 18 March 2011," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. (Added April 11, 2011)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Milton_Acorn&diff=423471086&oldid=419933164 Revision as of 06:52, 11 April 2011]," Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Dec. 6, 2012. In the Thompson and Wright articles, Kinthompson's name is a red link (a link to a page that does not exist), implying that a Kinthompson article had also been created, but was subsequently deleted. Writing The only example of Kinthompson's poetry available online is the following poem (or fragment), purportedly from a 1973 journal, posted on Star Catcher and the Inflatable Marxist in May 2011:From the Notebooks of Warren Kinthompson, Star Catcher and the Inflatable Marxist, May 12, 2011. WordPress, Web, Dec. 6, 2012. Symptomatic Regression by Warren Kinthompson The Me you just had beer with has gone home to create a record of the event for another Me you’ve never met in which I recount the story of the ducklings on ice without spitting in your eye. Victims Websites known to have repeated information from Wikipedia about Warren Kinthompson include Amazon,John Thompson, Amazon.com, Web, Dec. 6, 2012. Answers.com,Fred Cogswell, Answers.com, Web, Dec. 6, 2012. the Brooklyn Museum,C.D. Wright, Brooklyn Museum, Web, Dec. 6, 2012. Guernica Editions,Fred Cogswell, Guernica Editions, Web, Dec. 6, 2012. the Online Video Guide,Fred Cogswell Video|Book Interviews, Online Video Guide, Web, Dec. 6, 2012. PoemHunter,Biography of Alden Nowlan, PoemHunter, Web, Dec. 6, 2012. and the Yale University Library.Fred Cogswell, Yale University Library, Yale.edu, Web, Dec. 6, 2012. As of June 2013, Guernica Editions had dropped the Kinthompson reference from its authors page on Fred Cogswell.Fred Cogswell, Guernica Editions, Web, June 6, 2013. There is also has a Facebook page for Kinthompson, although as of December 2012 it was blank.Warren Kinthompson, Facebook, Web, Dec. 6, 2012. See also *List of poetry hoaxes References External links Category:Literary hoaxes